Question about Cable Card

I'm new to this forum so forgive my ignorance. Also, I apologize in advance if this question is posted in the incorrect section.

I recently purchased a TiVo Premiere series 4 and stopped by my cable company (Time Warner Manhattan) to pick up the cable card needed. I was given a CISCO STA1520 tuning box alongside the cable card. I asked the technician if I needed it and he said that some channels may not display properly or not show up at all. He said if this happened to use the box.

I really dont want another box to connect. Do you guys think i'm going to need the CISCO box, or do you think the cable card will suffice? I also asked if I needed to call CS to get the card paired up with the TiVo and he said no. The card should be programmed and ready to go when I get home and all i have to do is pop the card in.

Can't speak about the need for the tuning adapter but there are others here who will pipe in. Frankly, I have not heard of anyone being able to plug in a cablecard and have it pair up without a call (or several) to a CSR for the cable company. How do they know the necessary info about your Tivo until the cablecard is installed?

Can't speak about the need for the tuning adapter but there are others here who will pipe in. Frankly, I have not heard of anyone being able to plug in a cablecard and have it pair up without a call (or several) to a CSR for the cable company. How do they know the necessary info about your Tivo until the cablecard is installed?

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Yep I was thinking the same thing. I dont mind calling. I just hope I dont need this clunky TA.

If your cable company uses Switched Digital Video then yes you are going to need the tuning adapter as well. You wont be able to get the SDV channels without it.

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Do you think I should try just the cable card first and give it a shot? I know I'll have to call them initially to get the cable card paired with the TiVo, but if I need to add the TA into the mix at a later date, does that constitute another call to Time Warner?

Well all I can tell you is how it works here in Dallas. When you call to get it paired they will ask you to go to the tuning adapter diagnostic screen and read off some info there. If you dont have it hooked up then I'm sure they will ask you to hook it up and call back. You can always hook it up and then unhook it later after you get it paired. Here in Dallas just about everything is on SDV. Channels like CNN, Fox, CMT. MTV, Discovery, History, Nickelodeon, E!, Oxygen, Bravo, TBS, AMC, VH1, AETV, Syfy, Spike, FX, ESPN, and EVERYTHING thats HD (high def) is on SDV. Probably if youre wanting to watch anything in HD you are going to have to use it. If you just want your local channels then usually none of that is on SDV.

Well all I can tell you is how it works here in Dallas. When you call to get it paired they will ask you to go to the tuning adapter diagnostic screen and read off some info there. If you dont have it hooked up then I'm sure they will ask you to hook it up and call back. You can always hook it up and then unhook it later after you get it paired. Here in Dallas just about everything is on SDV. Channels like CNN, Fox, CMT. MTV, Discovery, History, Nickelodeon, E!, Oxygen, Bravo, TBS, AMC, VH1, AETV, Syfy, Spike, FX, ESPN, and EVERYTHING thats HD (high def) is on SDV. Probably if youre wanting to watch anything in HD you are going to have to use it. If you just want your local channels then usually none of that is on SDV.

It works really well here on the Premiere and the older S3's I've never had any problems with them. Now the Elite that was a different story, it was a nightmare, but I dont use it anymore for now. My regular Premiere's they work really great

It's generally some of the less popular channels. You can always try it without it and see if you get all the channels you're interested in. If you do, you don't need the adapter. If you get messages about unable to tune or channel not authorized, then you'll need it.